Randall Munroe

Randall Munroe is the creator, writer and artist of xkcd. He has a degree in physics from the Christopher Newport University and prior to his career as a professional webcomic artist, Munroe was a roboticist independently contracted with NASA. Since his contract was not renewed in 2006, Munroe has supported himself primarily through xkcd, selling books and merchandise among other income streams. Munroe also blogs (aka blags) through the xkcd website.

Munroe has drawn upon his experience at NASA and his physics-background for many xkcd strips. Munroe also began writing a weekly webcolumn called what if? responding to theoretical questions (many of which are physics-based, but some of which simply cater to his skills in research, and general scientific and mathematical knowledge and logic). In March 2014, Munroe announced that he was writing a book based on his what if? column. The book was released September 2, 2014.

The content of xkcd tends to stem from Munroe's thoughts and experiences. Often strips are based on his frustrations or things he finds ridiculous. He often writes strips in the first-person and even uses the Cueball character on occasion to represent himself (such as in 541). That said it is likely that many of these strips are not factually based on Munroe's real life; for example, the My Hobby series appears to be written about Randall's own hobbies, although it is likely that few if any are things Randall has ever done himself.

Munroe announced in June 2011 that his then-fiancée had been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. They married in September of that year. As with other more subtle elements of his real life, the cancer diagnosis was the subject of a number of xkcd comics in 2011 and beyond.

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